Monday, June 28, 2004

12 week old fetuses, also known as 'unlawful enemy combatants' by NARAL, have been shown to exhibit all sorts of incredible behaviour according to a new ultrasound technique pioneered by Professor Stuart Campbell at London's Create Health Clinic.

The images have shown:

From 12 weeks, unborn babies can stretch, kick and leap around the womb - well before the mother can feel movement

From 18 weeks, they can open their eyes although most doctors thought eyelids were fused until 26 weeks

From 26 weeks, they appear to exhibit a whole range of typical baby behaviour and moods, including scratching, smiling, crying, hiccoughing, and sucking.

This is really incredible stuff for a whole variety of reasons. Can you imagine if they made this ultrasound available at every Planned Parenthood clinic in the country? I wonder if the same technology could be used to image other interior organs or the brain?

3 Comments:

That's really interesting. I've long thought that the best way to change society's views of abortion is to show them fetal development up close, and challenge this superstitious view that, somehow, a human being in an early stage of development is not a human. Quickening worked fine in the Middle Ages, but it's hard to argue with a 3-D ultrasound. Hence the fight against women's right-to-know laws.